The Lego RCX, Inside And Out

The Lego RCX is a superb microcontroller, genre defining- and this is all about the amazing things you can do with one, getting hold of one, and building awesome stuff (like robots!) with Lego. Find out here to get up close and inside the RCX.

Included is some basic info on the device - what it looks like, what kits it was part of, and why I think it was genre defining.
Also is information on programming and my personal favourite way to program it.

I have included information on opening up the RCX so you can get inside it and see what makes it tick - this can serve either as clear instructions on taking a look and putting it back together, or taking a look at the closeups and chip identifications to save you having to butcher your own RCX. Since they have become rare, there is some info and links to places to buy an RCX so you can reproduce the experiments here and generally have fun playing with it.

On the more advanced side here, there are circuit diagrams for interfacing with the RCX for getting power from both motor and sensor ports, and also for building active sensors. Finally there are links to other sites and books with a great deal more information to get the best out of this cool toy.

Although it is becoming a little long in the tooth, having been succeeded by the NXT, it still holds its own as one of the really great things created by the Lego Company.

The RCX was truly genre defining. Although there were robotic controllers available before, even those that interfaced with construction toys, This was an accessible, easily programmable, versatile controller. It came with all the kit needed to build quite sophisticated robots, wheels, gears, axles. It also came with all the programming software and leads needed (often an extra for other kits). It came with plenty of information and instructions, and the software was not a dry language IDE, but a full interactive introduction to the kit. The RCX and Mindstorms was available to the consumer as well as schools, at a reasonably affordable price. It has an online community maintained by Lego, and made it easy to become a member of it. Designs and programs are still being swapped now. It was this kit, and the accessory or lightweight kits like the Droid developer kit, the Mars Mission kit, Vision Command (which included a web cam and computer vision software), that started a new glut of hobby robotics. This hit a few years before robot wars, and resulted in things like the "Real Robot Magazine". Other toys started to catch on, but still, none have the versatility or accessibility that the Lego ones do.

The Lego RCX, combined with the Lego Robotics Construction Kit that it was sold to in retail, brought many people who had though they had grown out of Lego back to buying and using Lego. It also brought many others into building robotics.

The RCX has been used in schools and extra-curricular children's clubs, including one I ran myself from 2004 to 2005. It can be used to teach children engineering principles, mechanical concepts, control engineering and programming, about the use of sensors and motors and many other useful lessons. It is also great fun to tinker with.